CHAPTER TWO

Eric was frozen. He could not do anything but openly gawk at the unknown person, and try not to scream and faint. His eyes went back and forth from his hand to the other hand connected to his string. And boy, did he want to cry.

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

“This is not how it’s supposed to be,” He thought, almost tearful. In the countless times that he had daydreamed about his soulmate, he’d imagined their first meeting to be very lovely, and well… very heteroual.

He had imagined it to be just like how they do it in movies: his visibly female soulmate would walk in that door looking all innocent and beautiful, and the self-proclaimed handsome Eric would dramatically turn his head towards her and immediately be captivated in her charms. Their eyes would meet and suddenly butterflies would be flying out of no where and birds would start to sing their sweetest songs. A love song would be softly playing at the background, as they locked eyes – and both would feel an undeniable and unexplainable spark swimming in between them. He’d flash his most charming smile and she would expectantly blush. Everything is perfect, and romantic, and soon they’ll fall in love and live happily ever after.

Fate must be laughing at Eric now since in less than five minutes, his dream of a lifetime came crashing down and into ashes as Manager Jang came in with his obviously male, supposedly soulmate.

Nothing is lovely and everything is anything but perfect. No butterflies and no birds. He did not smile, and no one blushed.

There was no beautiful female soulmate, and if anything, Eric too, was nowhere near handsome when his eyes look like they’re about to jump out of his sockets, and his jaw was hanging too low it looked like it’s about to detach itself from his face.

This must be a mistake.

With the end of his very brief introduction, Manager Jang directed this Shin Hyesung to his cubicle (which was two rows away from Eric’s), and as quickly as they entered, Manager Jang exited the scene, leaving Shin Hyesung, alone and awkward in front of the whole department.

This… is definitely not right.

While Eric was trying his best not to breakdown and wail, Minwoo on the other hand, looked happy to hear there’s going to be an addition to their department. Being the social butterfly that he was, he naturally wanted to be friends with the new guy as fast as possible.

"Oh! A flower boy." Minwoo chirped happily as he quickly abandoned Eric to approach the new employee.

No, don’t you dare Lee Minwoo. Eric warned him in mind, though a tad too late. Here he was, having the mental breakdown of his life, and yet his best friend failed to notice that, and instead, chose to socialize with the person who was the root of it all.

“Hi Hyesung-ssi!” Minwoo greeted him with his warm and friendly eye-smile. “I'm Lee Minwoo.” He said as he offered a hand to shake. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” Hyesung replied as he shook Minwoo’s hand.

Eric felt betrayed. How dare you socialize with him you tiny bastard.

“Well. Let me introduce you to the rest of the staff!”

D-did I hear that right? Just what do you think you’re doing Lee Minwoo?!

Eric quickly grabbed the edge of his desk to keep him from falling off his chair and silently prayed to the high heavens for a miracle. Let me be invisible please, let me be invisible.

“This is Eun Ji Won… and this is Moon Hee Jun…” He dreadfully listened as Minwoo introduced his co-workers to the new guy one by one.

Soon the betrayer Minwoo was done introducing every single one of his co-workers in the first row, and was now crossing the distance towards the second row.

Oh my god, someone save me.

“This is Park Choongjae. Funny name, right?” Minwoo cheerfully remarked, in an attempt to entertain the new guy.

“I’m Choongjae, but everyone calls me Junjin.” Junjin refuted, but quickly smiled to Hyesung. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Junjin-ssi.”

Oh my god, they’re going this way. They’re going this way. Eric repeated in his mind. What do I do?!

And he did what any brave man would do if they were faced in the same situation. He sank to the ground, and hid himself under his desk.

Very brave indeed.

He heard their steps getting louder and louder as they got nearer to his cubicle. Oh my god, I might cry. He was the last one of his row, and each time Minwoo introduced a new name to Hyesung, his face became paler and paler.  Soon they’re going to find me, oh my god.

When Eric heard their steps halt a few feet away from him, he knew his doomsday was at dawn. He closed his eyes and made his last attempt to make himself somehow go invisible until he heard Minwoo start.

“And the person here...” Minwoo said as he took small steps towards Eric’s hiding place.

Oh no.

“…who looks constipated all of a sudden,” He yanked up Eric by the collar to make him properly stand.

Oh no, no, no, no.

“…is Eric Mun.”

Oh .

There was no escaping the inevitable. And Eric realized he probably looked very stupid right now, in front of his supposedly soulmate; so in an effort to make himself look the least presentable at the last minute, he carefully peeled his eyes open, uncomfortably made eye contact with this Shin Hyesung, and gave the most awfully unnatural smile a human being could ever do.

It didn’t go unnoticed to Hyesung how Eric looked like he’s about to die right there and now with how pale Eric’s skin was and how he was sweating all over. But manners are manners, so he extended his hand still for a handshake. “Um, well. Hi, nice to meet you. I’m Shin Hyesung.”

And Eric had to summon all of his will power not to shriek.

T-the s-string...!

Now that they’re only a few feet from each other, Hyesung’s string is completely in Eric’s view. And there’s no denying the fact the Eric’s string definitely leads to Hyesung. Oh my god, oh my god. We’re really connected, how can this be?!

Seeing Eric being completely unresponsive for some reason, Minwoo nudge Eric’s side to make him compose himself. He shot Eric a what-is-wrong-with-you-look and this somehow effectively zapped Eric back to his senses.

Introduce yourself you fool, Eric internally scolded himself.

He cleared his throat, and opened his mouth to speak.

 "I-I'm….”

Do not lose your cool, Eric, and say your name.

“I-I’m… I’m…”

Say your damn name!

“I’m constipated!” He yelled and plummeted down to the floor in a fraction of a second and hid under his desk again. Eric grabbed his legs as tightly as he could and buried his face on his knees. God, What the hell did I say?!  

Shocked and obviously at lost on what to do, Hyesung turned his head towards Minwoo, hoping to hear some sort of explanation on what this Eric Mun was doing, but to his dismay, Minwoo looked just as lost as him.

“Oh? Well, um, do you need any help?” Hyesung carefully inquired as he shifted his sight towards Eric again.

“N-no.”

“Are you sure?” Hyesung asked as he slowly reached down to Eric. “You look really pale, are you sure you don’t need any – “

But before Hyesung could get his hand any closer to Eric, he was immediately cut off.

“Don't touch me,” Eric shamefully said, “It might be contagious.”

At his response, Minwoo raised a brow, “Eric, constipation isn't contagious.” 

“Oh. Well. Still. Don't touch me.” Eric’s tone was sharp and unkind, and this did not go unnoticed to both Hyesung and Minwoo.

Minwoo sensed how tense the atmosphere between them three has become, so quickly, he turned to Hyesung to save the situation.

“I'm sorry about this. You see, before you came in, Manager Jang yelled at him pretty badly, so he's feeling a bit under the weather.” He smoothly excused.

Hyesung seemed to accept this, and did not bother to ask any more questions. He faced Eric, who was still on the floor, arms hugging his knees, and spoke. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Eric-ssi. I hope you feel better soon.”

“Yeah, he will.” Minwoo quickly responded to Hyesung with a nod. “Well, that’s all of us here in the Marketing Department. Let’s work hard together.” Minwoo finished professionally and flashed him his signature smile. Hyesung could only smile back then proceeded towards his own cubicle, leaving the duo alone.

As soon as Hyesung was out of ear-shot, Minwoo whipped his head towards Eric and harshly whispered.

“What on earth is going on with you?!”

With the coast now cleared, Eric slowly rose from the ground with shaky knees, and dropped himself on his chair.

 “I've... I've got some big going on.” He whispered back as he wiped his sweat from his forehead.

Minwoo seemed surprised. “Oh, so you're really constipated?”

“I'm not!” Eric quickly spat.

“Then what?”

“Just... I need to think about something...” Eric weakly answered.

“Well, whatever you do, don't scare the new guy. Geez, unleashing your 4D on his first day…” Minwoo murmured before walking away.

_________________

Okay Eric, you need to calm down. Let's think this through, OK?

For two hours after that horrible first meeting with his supposedly soulmate, all Eric did was stealthily observe this man called Shin Hyesung, like a predator spying his prey. All his paper work be damned, his heteroual love life was at stake! Eric was trying his best to come up with a believable explanation about why they’re connected, and why that is so wrong. And so far, he’s not going anywhere.

Okay.

Logically speaking, there's no way we're fated.

Because there's no way I'm ever going to fall for him.

Because I’m straight.

So if I'm straight,

And we’re destined,

Then he must be a girl.

Eric stole a glance at Hyesung, who at that time, was talking to Junjin about cheap food or something. He assessed his appearance and came to a quick and easy conclusion.

Well he does look a bit feminine.

Small face,

Thin lips,

Small nose,

Slender frame,

And what is with his perfectly neat hair?!

He’s positively too feminine to be a man.

He paused.

Except, he has no s at all.

Well. Should I challenge him to a palm pushing contest so I could "accidentally" put may palms on his chest and check if he has s or not?

At this point, Eric doesn’t even know what he’s talking about anymore.

But what if he’s really a girl? Then that would be harassment.

He paused again.

Wait, Eric. But some girls are flat-chested too.

Eric was hopeless.

He mentally smacked himself straight on the face, Stop being a 4D, what are you even thinking?!

Eric heaved a loud groan with eyes tightly shut. Everything that happened in the past few hours was driving him insane. With just a sudden appearance of a person, his whole life was turned upside down, and now even his manliness was being threatened.

He leaned back to his chair, and sighed. All this thinking is just rapidly draining his already drained energy. And he knew this debate with himself was going nowhere.  Who even debates with himself?!

He opened his eyes again and sighed.

He brought his hand up to his vision, and stared at his string, still flowing gracefully from his finger.

 “Well, at least it’s not glowing,” he said.

And it better stay that way forever.

Hii!! First off, I want to thank everyone for all the comments, the subscribers, and the upvotes! Wow, I was really not expecting this kind of response. XD

So thank you so much!

I hope you like this chapter too, althought nothing much happened, just a continuation of their meeting in the first chapter.

Chapter three is in drafts, but I doubt I could finish it soon since school's gonna start soon.

But anway, I hope you like it, and please leave your thoughts down below. Thank you so much! 'Til the next chapter! :D